"Big Money Changing Hands" Intensifies GPU Race! Chen Liwu Warns of Continued Storage Chip Shortage Until 2028

Intel Corporation (INTC.US) CEO Chen Liwu stated on Tuesday that the company has appointed a new Chief Architect to lead the graphics processing unit (GPU) business. He also noted that the current shortage of storage chips that is affecting the technology industry is expected to last at least another two years. GPUs, developed by companies such as NVIDIA Corporation and AMD, are the computational core for large language models. With major companies aggressively expanding their artificial intelligence infrastructure and data centers, the demand for GPUs has surged. Chen Liwu, speaking at the Cisco Systems, Inc. AI Summit, told the audience that convincing the new executive to join Intel Corporation "took some effort." However, he did not reveal the name of the new executive. In recent years, this struggling American chip manufacturer has fallen behind several major semiconductor companies, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR (TSM.US), which have benefited from the growth in AI data center construction. Over the past year, with significant investments from the U.S. government, SoftBank, and NVIDIA Corporation, as well as growing optimism from investors about Intel Corporation's foundry business, Intel Corporation's stock price has rebounded. However, the company still primarily manufactures its own chips. Earlier this month, production bottlenecks and supply issues overshadowed Intel Corporation's better-than-expected quarterly performance. Investors are also hoping for clearer guidance from the company on its "anchor customers" in their foundry business. Additionally, Chen Liwu also discussed the ongoing shortage of storage chips affecting the entire technology industry. Chen Liwu stated, "From what I know, there is no sign of relief." He mentioned that he had conversations with key players in the storage field who told him, "There won't be any relief before 2028." This stance aligns with the views of some Wall Street analysts. The latest analysis from the UBS Group AG analyst team indicates that given the continuous expansion of AI data centers, the global storage industry is showing significant structural differentiation, with "meaningful supply relief" expected no earlier than around 2028. Prior to that, the structural demand brought by AI data center construction will continue to strengthen the prosperity and bargaining power of the storage chip industry chain. Nomura analysts predict that the current "storage industry super cycle" that began in the second half of 2025 will last until at least 2027, with meaningful additional supply possibly not appearing until early 2028. The massive expansion of AI infrastructure has increased the demand for storage chips, squeezing the supply available for traditional computers and smartphones. This is leading to supply shortages and price increases, which may weaken consumer willingness to purchase related products. Intel Corporation is the largest manufacturer of personal computer processors, and personal computers rely on storage chips for data storage and management. Major global storage chip manufacturers include Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US). Chen Liwu stated that as a leading supplier in the AI processor field, NVIDIA Corporation's latest Rubin platform and next-generation products will further increase the demand for storage chips. He bluntly stated, "AI will 'consume' a large amount of storage resources."